The pool at Gentile hall is now getting a lot more swimmers since the Presque Isle indoor pool closed. While pool rules and fees stay the same, there have been some other changes taking place so far.

There hasn’t been any resistance from the university to having more community members and kids using it’s pool. But the fact of the matter is, being such a community oriented pool facility, it can be pretty awkward for someone to possibly see their neighbor or teacher in swimwear.

Dick Gardiner, Director of Gentile Hall says, “the biggest issue we saw coming was, this is a campus facility and adult facility, and now you have young children coming in and there’s a more blend of older and younger, it’s sometimes not a comfortable situation.”

Gardiner says even the locker rooms were designed more for a student or adult type of facility, but that didn’t stop the campus from helping out.

Gardiner, “Our current president – past president both very community minded and we were basically do what we can to help out the city and give the local residents a place to continue their aquatics program and some swimming.”

The addition of a different group of swimmers has called for an additional step for their entry.

Gardiner, “the pool rules are pretty much standard business anywhere you go, the biggest difference would be the chaperoning, our guards are there to prevent and react to emergencies and the parents are there to supervise the children.”

With that said, there is a release form that needs to be signed for children 13 and under. Those children also need to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Open swim hours at Gentile Hall are the same as they have been. During the off hours is when the city uses the pool for aquatic programs.

Gardiner, “well after we get through this first round – get through our semester, we can kind of evaluate how the traffic was, whether our current member and students, and addition of community use, that’s when we’ll do the tweeking of our schedule.”

As for now, swimmers and those who go to Gentile Hall for recreation will continue to share the facility at the hours posted.